Re: Breaking News: Christina Applegate Diagnosed with Breast Cancer

On Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:34:36 -0500, "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

pkj0891@xxxxxxx wrote:
On Mon, 4 Aug 2008 00:25:20 +0200, Pete B <xxxh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
my_wheel_life@xxxxxxxxx says...

"Christina Applegate was diagnosed with an early form of breast cancer.
Benefiting from early detection through a doctor ordered MRI, the cancer
is not life threatening. Christina is following the recommended
treatment of her doctors

*snip* *snip*

I hope she takes an aggressive approach. The younger you are when
diagnosed, the more likely you are to have a reoccurrence. And, the
whole "not life threatening" business is dependent upon involvement of
the lymph nodes, and they never can get all of them out. Being
node-negative sounds good, but it's no guarantee.

That it's in the lymph nodes likely tells you of metasticies, since the
lymphatic system connects to everything.

This is the problem, which I found out when my sister was diagnosed
with breast cancer in the late '80s. They take out lymph nodes for
analysis. If you find out you're node-negative, you think you're free
and clear. The docs told her the crap about early diagnosis,
miniscule tumor size, etc. She had a lumpectomy and radiation. Back
then, they didn't recommend chemo for my sister's results.

Only problem is, they can't remove every last lymph node in your body,
so being node-negative is not a guarantee that it hasn't spread.
After almost 5 years of being cancer-free, it returned again in her
bones. She lived another 5 years, so I guess getting 10 years from
initial diagnosis is a good thing, but I gotta tell you, she was
really pissed when she found out that her node-negative result wasn't
conclusive.

Maybe docs tell the truth now, but I wouldn't bet on it. The only
reason I posted this depressing comment is because I want every woman
posting or lurking here to understand that you need to push your
doctors for every last bit of information. It was only when my
sister's cancer returned that she was told being node-negative isn't a
guarantee of anything.
.

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